Silverlight seems to be the quite the super-chrysalis of the Microsoft platform space. In version 1, it was all about media. Playing video streams and the like. Then moments later, popping out of its pupa, came version 2 (note, I may be misremembering the length of time between v1 and v2) and suddenly you could write C# applications to run against a cut-down CLR in the Silverlight sandbox.

Then scant days later came version 3, another metamorphosis -- my memory still failing me as to the actual length of time -- with more functionality supported out of the (sand)box and some mumblings of even having Silverlight applications working outside the browser.

Finally, last week, we got Silverlight 4 in our hands and, furthermore, in the hands of our instance of VS2010. This time the transformation was complete and I dare say future versions won't be quite so ground-breaking. Application developers got

- Printing support- Full set of controls- Better localization, including RTL- CLR supports same compliled code to run on desktop and in browser- Enhanced data binding- Great support for design within VS2010- The ability to write desktop sandboxed applications

To go along with this metamorphosis of Silverlight 4 into a WPF-lite (I certainly do remember an early version of Silverlight beng known as WPF/E), we're reassessing our support for what I may call "XAML platforms" by refactoring our codebase for Silverlight and WPF into one common library called XPF (for eXpress Presentation Framework). You'll see the first results of this with our v2010 vol 1 release.

You could say that we've got our own chrysalis happening with our XPF controls.

Rachel Hawley (DevExpress)

8 comment(s)

CAD IT S.p.A.

I really appreciate the full story.. so your components for WinForm/ASP.NET/WPF.. but, in fact, a long time is elapsed from SL3 release, and your offer is absolutely not comparable with competitors who have, by a long time, a much more complete offer on typical application target of silverlight platform require (Charts, Gauges, Ready to use multiple (and good) graphics theme, etc..).

So.. I'm sorry but, despite the great XtraReportViewer, I'm very disappointed about version 10 on SL because my expectations is much, much more.

23 April, 2010

Julien Ferraro

Hello,

My next application will be in WPF. Well, I planned it to be WPF ...

Last year, I was reading comment asking : what is the difference between SL and WPF. My answer was obvious, if you want to display a video in your browser, use SL, otherwise WPF is your choice !!!

And now, DevExpress gives me the exact same components in both plateforms. So I'm lost here.

Should I go SL or WPF ? and why ?

25 April, 2010

Christoph Brändle

He guys,

dont be angry or disappointed, devExpress will come one day with SL and WPF controls that are worth while.

I am sure they will (but dont care anymore). I wait now 3 years and giving up.

25 April, 2010

Ioannis Kiriazidis

would like to add my own displeasure for silverlight controls from devexpress. I have canceled my subscription awaiting to see if anything interesting will come before i renew again.

25 April, 2010

Steve Sharkey

To give some balance I am very pleased with devexpress attitude towards WPF & Silverlight, as far as I am concerned Microsoft released a beta platform we are only now on the first "REAL" release. Prior to VS2010 developing user interfaces for WPF/Silverlight was a throw back to the bad old days that I thought Visual Studio consigned to history. The latest DevExpress release merges the code base for these two platforms and is an ideal launch point for some rapid and very exciting developments.

26 April, 2010

Evgeniy Meyke

Kudos to DX for a very WISE resource allocation and strategic planning. Keep it up! I am really looking forward to this and next years' developments.

26 April, 2010

Davide Piras

MS SL versioning has been so fast that MS itself is unable to prepare any certification exam on the subject, because they normally need between 8 and 12 months to prepare an exam but they are faster in releasing major releases of it!!

Looking forward for your next and next next major version !

28 April, 2010

Gary L Cox Jr [DX-Squad]

I personally have not used WPF or SL on any production applications as I was waiting for it to mature a bit. I am just starting to get interested in using it. I am glad to see that DX is using a single codebase to handle both. I suspect we will be seeing more controls come out of this in the near future.